Hold the Dark

“Hold the Dark” is a 2018 Netflix thriller/drama starring Jeffery Wright (The Batman), Alexander Skarsgard (The Legend of Tarzan), James Badge Dale (The Departed), Riley Keough (The Lodge), and Julian Black Antelope (Debris).

An expert on wolves receives a letter from a woman in Alaska seeking his help tracking a wolf which is taking and killing local kids. Her son seems to be its latest victim. However, he soon discovers something much darker is going on.

This one was a lot different than what I was expecting, I was thinking it was going to be a man hunting a wolf in a rural Alaskan town. Instead, you have a husband hunting down his wife, and killing anyone in his way, and unfortunately the expert is caught right in the middle. I get the symbolism between wolves and humans and sometimes we’re worse than animals. Still wasn’t expecting it, it gets pretty crazy. It’s a great watch, Alexander Skarsgard plays a great crazy role. The problem with this movie is the ending, the ending sucks. It doesn’t wrap anything up, it’s just a dumb ending, again I get the symbolism behind it, but that doesn’t make it good. Overall, it’s still worth watching, I give it a 6.5/10.

Brazen

“Brazen” is a 2022 Netflix original thriller/mystery starring Alyssa Milano (Charmed), Sam Page (Mad Men), Malachi Weir (The Naked Brothers Band), and Matthew Finlan (Grand Army).

A crime writer goes to visit her sister who she has a rocky relationship with. While there, she meets a detective who lives next door and quickly becomes a love interest. Her sister is murdered, and she finds out she was living a secret life, she teams up with the detective to catch her sister’s killer.

Sounds pretty good, right? That’s about all it has going for it. It’s very hallmark-esque. The dialogue is cheesy, the acting is cheesy, and the whole story line is cheesy. They wouldn’t let a crime writer whose sister was killed join on to find out who killed her sister. Which wouldn’t be a bad plot if they were able to sell it with solid acting. Then the love interest, they’ve only known each other a week, act like it’s a lifetime, which makes it kind of dumb. It just doesn’t work. On top of that it is lacking depth, oh by the way here’s the killer. Netflix has been knocking it out of the park as of late with their original movies, but this one is a swing and a miss. I give it a 3/10.

Zone 414

“Zone 414” is a 2021 Sci-Fi Mystery/Thriller starring Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential), Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz (A Classic Horror Story), and Jonathan Aris (The End of the F***ing World).

In a dystopian future people pay good money to spend time in Zone 414. Zone 414 is the only place where robots are allowed to interact with humans. When the creator of Zone 414’s daughter is missing, he hires a private detective (Pearce) to go into Zone 414 and find her. He enlists the help of an A.I. (Lutz) to be his tour guide. They soon find out Zone 414 is darker, and seedier than thought.

So, two Sci-Fi movie reviews in a row, not on purpose though, purely coincidental. This one is pretty dark, the A.I.’s are basically sex workers forced to do whatever humans pay for. You have your brooding mysterious detective, a robot who thinks and wants to be human, and plenty of grimy characters along the way. It actually makes for a good story; however, it feels half baked. It has the elements to be really good, but it feels like it’s lacking something. It jumps to the big conclusion out of nowhere and doesn’t have any lead up to it. I give it a 6.5/10. You can currently catch this one on Netflix.

Love Hard

It’s that time of year again when the Christmas movies begin to roll out for the holiday season. I love this time of year when new Christmas movies hit, but a lot of them aren’t worth watching. Perhaps we’re more prone to like the Christmas movies we grew up with like ” A Christmas Story” “A National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”, or even more recent like “The Santa Clause” or “Jingle All the Way”. We’ll take a look at one of the new Christmas movies to just drop, “Love Hard.”

“Love Hard” is a 2021 Netflix original Christmas Rom/Com starring Nina Dobrev (Vampire Diaries), Jimmy O. Yang (Fresh Off the Boat), Darren Barnet (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D), and James Saito (Always Be My Maybe).

A New York columnist (Dobrev) who specializes in writing about bad dates, finally thinks she found true love on a dating app. After talking to the guy (Yang) for two weeks she flies across country to spend Christmas with him. Only to find out she’s been catfished.

This is one of those things that only happens in movies, who flies across country to spend Christmas with someone they’ve never met in person and have only talked to for two weeks in pursuit of true love? It’s also always two people from different worlds, take any rom com and it’s always someone from the city falling in love with someone not in the city, classic formula. Yet even with the predictability, this movie works. I’m a big fan of Yang, he’s a very funny dude, I love his roll in “Fresh Off the Boat”, and being opposite of Dobrev, they make it work. He plays a shy nerdy dude, trying to find his way in life, and with Dobrev’s help he just may. It’s a heartfelt good watch. I give it a 8/10.

Hypnotic

When I hear the word Hypnotic I automatically think of the fruity alcohol drink. However, “Hypnotic” is also a 2021 Netflix thriller starring Kate Siegel (Hush), Jason O’Mara (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and Dule Hill (Psych). The second one is the one I’ll explore, even though the drink is pretty good.

A woman (Siegel) struggling with some issues goes and sees a hypnotherapist (O’Mara) recommended by her friend. Once she is put under his hypnosis she quickly finds out it has deadly consequences.

Kate Siegel is a great horror/thriller actress, she also plays the lead in “Hush”. Which, if you haven’t seen, you need to. So this movie is right up her alley. It’s quick paced and goes right into it, all the actors and actresses play their roles well. It felt a little shallow though, like you know why he’s doing what he’s doing, but there could have been more conflict than what there was. It felt as it gets resolved a little quick. Overall it’s still a good thriller, and worth the watch, maybe just a little forgettable down the stretch. I give it a 7.5/10.

There’s Someone Inside Your House

‘There’s Someone Inside Your House’ is a 2021 Netflix original horror starring Sydney Park (The Walking Dead), Theodore Pellerin (Genesis), Asjha Cooper (Everybody Wants Some!!), Dale Whibley (Ice), and Diego Josef (The Ballad of Lefty Brown).

There’s a masked killer going around and killing off teens all awhile exposing their darkest secrets.

This is your teen slasher style flick, it reminds me of a “Friday the 13th”, mixed with “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. You have your masked killer going around killing teens, mixed with knowing their darkest secrets. Horror movies are a hit or miss, there’s isn’t too many just okay ones. Either they’re great or they’re terrible. I have to admit, this one is really good. It has good characters that draw you in, and it does a really good job of keeping you guessing. Several times I thought I had the killer figured out, then changed my mind. This is a great slasher flick, and just in time for Halloween. I give it a 10/10.

A Classic Horror Story

‘A Classic Horror Story’ is a 2021 Netflix original horror movie starring Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz (Rings), Alida Baldari Calabria (Pinocchio), and Francesco Russo (My Brilliant Friend).

A group of passengers sharing a ride in a RV crash and end up in the woods. Only thing around is an abandoned cabin, no matter how hard they try to find their way out of the woods they keep ending back up at the cabin, where something sinister awaits them.

This one reminds me of ‘Wrong Turn’, ‘Midsommar’, and ‘Welcome Home’ all rolled into one. It’s the classic story, a group gets lost in the woods, and start getting killed off (‘Wrong Turn’), then it turns into a weird festival type setting (‘Midsommar’), and finishes off with a ‘Welcome Home’ type vibe, I can’t go into that part without giving too much away, and I hate spoilers. This one is made in Italy so it’s dubbed over. The words don’t always match the mouths and it causes some of the acting to be off. That’s my biggest complaint with it, once there’s about twenty minutes left of the film, it is amazing. The ending is perfect, and makes the whole movie worth watching. I give it an 8/10.

Level 16

‘Level 16’ is a 2018 sci-fi/thriller starring Katie Douglas (Ginny & Georgia), Celina Martin (Izombie), Sara Canning ( The Vampire Diaries), and Peter Outerbridge (Lucky Number Slevin).

Several girls are at mysteries boarding school where you keep going up levels until you reach the final level, level 16. Once they reach level 16 they are ready to be adopted to their perfect families. Two girls realize something is horribly wrong, something very sinister, and they plan to escape.

‘Level 16’ is basically a mix between Stephen King’s ‘The Institute’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ It takes a little bit of time to figure out what is going on, but you can figure out an idea what’s going on. They do a good job of keeping you guessing up till that point, and it’s a good watch. You can currently find it on Netflix, I give it a 8/10.

The Paper Tigers

‘The Paper Tigers’ is a 2021 Action/Comedy starring Alain Uy (The Morning Show), Ron Yuan (Mulan), Mykel Shannon Jenkins (The Gods), and Matthew Page (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot).

Three martial art prodigies who are called the three tigers go their separate ways, only to be reunited years later when their sifu (master) is killed. They’re now middle aged, out of shape, and working regular jobs, they must come together to avenge their sifu’s death.

I don’t know any of the actors, and it appears to be low budget, but I figured I would watch it. This movie surprised me, it’s not a mediocre film by any means. The acting, and story is really good. It is filled with a perfect amount of action and comedy. It’s not your typical martial arts movie where it’s filled with non stop cheesiness, where they would come back middle aged and not miss a beat. This is not that film, they come back and they’re about as good as you think they would be after years of not training. You can’t help but cheering for the three tigers in this. I give it a 9/10.

Fear Street Part Three: 1666

‘Fear Street Part Three: 1666’ is the third and final installment of the 2021 horror Fear Street series on Netflix. It stars Kiana Madeira (Fear Street Part One: 1994), Ashley Zukerman (Manhattan), Gillian Jacobs (Fear Street Part Two: 1978), Olivia Scott Welch (Fear Street part One: 1994), Benjamin Flores Jr. (Fear Street Part One: 1994), and Darrell Britt- Gibson (Keanu).

In this one, we travel back to 1666 and see how Shadyside became cursed. Sarah Fier (The Witch) is blamed for brining the devil to Shady side due to her romantic relationship with Hannah Miller, but we find out it’s not The Witch who summoned the devil.

So they split the third one into two parts, the first half it’s back in time to 1666 to show how it all started , then the second half, we’re back to the first movie in order to end the curse. They did a good job tying that in because if it was all just 1666 it wouldn’t have been as good and left a lot of questions unanswered. My big complaint, like the second one, is the darkness, there’s a lot of outdoor scenes at night, and you can’t tell what’s going on. Again not sure why movies like to do this. With that being said they do a good job of tying everything together, and it’s a fun slasher horror movie. I give this one a 7/10. If you average all three parts it gives it just under a 7.5/10 as a whole, so worth checking this series out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more Fear Street movies in the future, I at least hope so.